


Enemy of my enemy

by Wandering_in_space



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Slight Humor, furstrated acquaintances to friends to lovers, lots of architecture jargon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 18:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20375902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wandering_in_space/pseuds/Wandering_in_space
Summary: When Aaron and Robert, who work in different architecture firms across the country, have to work together because of unfortunate circumstances, they form a bond through email chains and phone calls. Misery loves company, and nothing unites people like a common enemy.





	Enemy of my enemy

**Author's Note:**

> This is honestly just a gratuitous fic because I'm in the architecture field. I will put a slight disclaimed that the way I wrote this fic was based on how US architecture firms work, I'm not sure how much UK differs but if any UK architects read this, let me know!

There is a blinking light flashing on Aaron’s work phone indicating there’s a voicemail when he gets into work in the morning. It was an odd sight - no one ever called Aaron, let alone leave a message. He was a simple drafter in an architecture firm.

After leaving school, Aaron had worked for his uncle at his construction company for a number of years before quitting. The pay was great, and despite the efforts of the Health and Safety Executive, he wanted to have a functional back in the future, thank you very much. He switched from building structures to drafting the drawings that would eventually be built. The firm Aaron now works at specializes in architecture for animals, specifically large and farm animals.

“Aaron. I called Finn all day yesterday and sent several emails but haven’t heard back from him. I have some questions about the Royal Veterinary College. We want to get this out to bid in two weeks. Call me when you get this.” It’s Robert Sugden’s voice that fills Aaron’s ears when he plays the voicemail. 

Because Aaron’s firm is a specialty firm, oftentimes they will partner with local architects to help with the initial design so the local architects can take it to construction document level. Recently, they have been working with White Sugden Architects in London on a new state of the art veterinary hospital for University of London.

Robert is the lead architect on this project, their firm had worked on many higher educational buildings, which made the partnership of these two firms work. Finn Barton is the project manager on their side. Despite the partnership sounding good on paper, this project has been the biggest nightmare for Aaron.

The incompetence Finn possesses as project manager has made RVC the worst project Aaron has ever worked on in the five years he’s been with the firm. It has been a disaster of a project that will no doubt lose the firm money. Aaron has no eye for design, that much is obvious given the state of his flat - sparse and a hodge podge of mismatched furniture. But even he could design a better building than Finn. And what’s more, he would be able to manage it much better than Finn has been managing.

Finn had been hired because he was a friend of one of the partners, but he was an utterly hopeless architect, never mind project manager. Finn will often sit on emails or notes for weeks before giving them to Aaron to fix, and by then it’s long overdue, which makes Aaron have to work overtime to get those notes incorporated in the drawings. He does appreciate that Robert will sometimes go directly to Aaron to get the work done instead of waiting for Finn to respond.

Leaning back in his chair, Aaron tries to peer into Finn’s office. He’s in there, tapping away at his phone. He was here yesterday, too, which annoys him that Robert had to resort to calling Aaron.

It’s not that Aaron dislikes Robert. But it’s just on principle, Aaron doesn’t care much for architects. Too many times, they will design something outrageous and it was up to drafters to work miracles trying to detail these elements. Similarly, when Aaron was still in construction, some designs were extremely difficult to build. Robert was no different than any other architect Aaron had known - he would send sketches of things that he wants in the hospital which Finn passes along to Aaron that makes him want to pull his hair out in frustration.

Aaron gets up from his desk to knock on Finn’s door. He looks up startled. “Robert called me. Wants you to call him back. Or at least answer his emails. I’m not your flaming secretary, Finn. I don’t want Robert to bug me when you’re the pm. Get it done, will ya?” Aaron adds when all Finn does is look sheepish.

Just as Aaron is about to stomp back to his desk, Finn finally says something. “Hang on a minute Aaron. I got to tell you something.”

Aaron turns back to see an embarrassed Finn pushing around papers on his desk. “I’m having to take a month long sabbatical starting tomorrow.”

Aaron stares at Finn in utter bewilderment. “Is this a wind up? RVC is going to be going out to bid in two weeks.” Finn looks at Aaron in confusion and Aaron rolls his eyes. “You know, when contractors look at our drawings to give us a price of construction?”

“Yes I know what ‘going out to bid’ means.” Finn replies, chagrinned. But Aaron doesn’t think he did know that. “I will still answer phone calls and emails, I just can’t be in the office for the next month.” 

“So you’re just leaving all the work for me to do? I’m not an architect.” Aaron seethes.

“You’ll be great. I have every faith in you.” Finn says, but Aaron doesn’t have a shred of Finn’s confidence.

When he gets back to his desk, there’s already an email from Finn addressed to the team working on RVC - Robert, the structural engineers, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers - telling them of his departure. Like he had told Aaron, Finn assures everyone that he will be available to field any questions Aaron can’t answer through phone or email. The reality of what was happening still had not sunk in for Aaron, and he can’t even take a second to digest the news because of this email. 

The rest of the day is spent with Finn forwarding emails to Aaron with information on the project that would have been useful three weeks ago. But all the same, Aaron prints out every one of the emails so he can have physical copies of the changes he needs to make on the drawings. As the day winds down to the end, he gets a phone call.

“This is Aaron.” Aaron answers automatically. 

“So Finn is going to be gone this month?” Robert says without bothering for the usual niceties. 

“Looks that way.” Aaron is fiddling around with a pen. He hadn’t been expecting to field questions about RVC so quickly. He had just put together all the emails and was going to start reading them to get a better grip of everything.

“Thank _ god _. For the first time since the project started, I actually have hope it will get out relatively on schedule.” Robert says. “I was getting ready to see if I had the power to fire him.”

“Well now you’re stuck with a drafter, who probably is not going to be any better than Finn.” Aaron says, betraying his fears for this project.

“Literally a child could be better than Finn. You’ll be fine.” Robert reassures, and even though they’ve barely spoken to each other, Aaron wants to believe him.

Robert sends out an email informing the engineers and other staff attached to RVC about Finn’s sabbatical. He writes that anyone who has concerns about veterinary architecture to relay them to Aaron. Aaron stares at the email with knots in his stomach.

\---

“What the fuck am I doing?” Aaron mutters as he stares at the opened word document. He’s the only one in the office, it’s been hours since there was another person in the firm.

He knew what a good specification looked like - he saw enough of them when he worked on site. But he had no idea where to begin with the specs Finn had left. Two days ago, Aaron’s boss dropped the pile of specs that they were responsible for and said Aaron needed to get it done at the same time the drawings need to go out. Aaron had sent both a text and email asking Finn about the specifications but had not heard back.

Aaron’s boss had been in a perpetual bad mood since Finn left. Many calls to Finn were being unanswered and everyone knew RVC was getting close to losing money. Aaron had spend long evenings fixing drawing mistakes that had not been picked up during the last meeting Finn had with the engineers. Now Aaron’s boss was breathing down his back to get it all done. Aaron had become his boss’s outlet to vent all his frustrations at the state of the project and Aaron was getting close to yelling back. This mess was hardly his fault.

Letting out a shaky breath, Aaron kept rereading the words that make very little sense to him. It was hopeless. He was never going to finish these specs in addition to the drawings.

A shrill ringing interrupts Aaron’s maudlin thoughts. It takes him a moment to realize the ringing is coming from his work phone.

“What?” Aaron growls down the phone. He used to never get phone calls, but since Finn has gone MIA, the amount of calls he gets daily is staggering. Aaron preferred it when he was just an anonymous drafter, not having to deal with anyone or anything relating to architecture.

“Oh. Wasn’t expecting you to answer.” Robert says sounding a little thrown off. “I was just going to leave a voicemail.”

“Yeah well tough. I’m here. What do you want?”

“We’re going to have to push the deadline back at least two weeks. I had a meeting with the University today and there’s a few corrections they want us to address. It’s all exterior stuff, so you don’t have to do any extra work.” Robert says, and the words could not have come at a better time. The stress of these past two weeks have been piling up on Aaron, and without thinking, Aaron starts crying.

“Er, Aaron? You okay?” Robert sounds confused, and it’s enough to make Aaron stop his tears.

“God, sorry.” Aaron angrily wipes his face. He’s mortified he just broke down on Robert. “That’s great news. I’m stuck writing these fucking specs Finn left, and they’re a mess.”

“Oh the joys of spec writing.” Robert says, taking the breakdown surprisingly in stride. “Have you written them before?”

“Never.”

“I can send some examples if you want.” Robert offers. 

“You what?” Aaron asks in disbelief.

“Obviously they won’t be project specific, but you can see how WSA writes them, since you have to conform to our standards.” Robert continues, as if he hadn't just announced the best news Aaron has heard in weeks.

They talk about the changes Robert’s firm is going to have to make for the exterior, and it calms Aaron down. When they hang up, Robert again promises he’ll send something over to Aaron.

Sure enough, only a few minutes after hanging up, Aaron receives an email. _ These are good examples of specs. Let me know if there’s anything you need help with _.There are at least five different attachments. The unexpected kindness makes Aaron smile despite the long night that awaits him.

\---

The silver lining to Aaron’s embarrassing breakdown was that Aaron and Robert start sending each other silly emails complaining about Finn. Aaron always makes sure the emails that would be archived into the server were as professional as possible, but he would always follow it with a separate chain to complain about Finn.

They would always have two email chains going: one that were informative and helped moved RVC along, and the other just roasting Finn.

_ “The day b4 he left, i had to explain what going out to bid meant.” _ Aaron writes one day, when Robert had mentioned that the deadline was still on track to be sent out for bid with the new exterior changes. 

_ “Ur kidding. God help us all.” _ Robert sent back, with a bunch of crying emoticons. Robert was so dramatic and it made the email chains all the more amusing to Aaron.

At the end of every one of Robert’s emails is a hyperlink to White Sugden Architects’s website. Curiosity has been gnawing at Aaron lately as they continue to bitch about Finn together. Chewing on his lip, Aaron hovers the link - most architecture websites had pictures of the staff, and not knowing what Robert looked like was starting to bother Aaron.

Before giving another thought, Aaron clicked on the link. Quickly navigating through the site, he found the ‘about us’ tab and clicked on it. The first image was predictably Lawrence White, founder of WSA. He was an older man - balding white hair with a less than impressive beard. Scrolling down without bothering to read his bio, Aaron finds Robert’s own picture and bio.

Robert...is so_ fit _. Aaron realizes, as he stares at the picture.

Aaron never thought the person he emailed and bitched to so regularly was almost as young as Aaron. He thought Robert was closer to Lawrence’s age given that many partners at architecture firms are of an older age group. Not Robert. Blonde hair styled up in a quaff, a smattering of freckles on the bridge of his nose, green-blue eyes. But what Aaron had zoned on was Robert’s smile. That smile...was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It had a slight falseness to it that made the smile look a little cheesy, but it was so beautiful. There were crows feet around Robert’s eyes from the smile that were oddly charming.

Feeling slightly embarrassed he was leering at his work friend, Aaron quickly closes the tab before anyone in the office caught him. Robert’s smile stayed with Aaron for the rest of the day, and despite all the RVC work he had to do, the day wasn’t as bad as previous days had been lately.

\---

The drawings and specs for RVC go out to bid on a Friday without a hitch. Aaron has been staring at his inbox and phone just anticipating that something has gone wrong and Aaron is going to have to clean it up. But everything seemed to be okay, even if Aaron felt like the other shoe was going to drop at any second.

Finn sends an email congratulating Aaron on getting the job out to bid. It was the first email he had sent in the month he had been gone, and if he were here right now, Aaron was pretty sure he would have throttled Finn. The amount of stress he had to endure because of Finn’s irresponsibility could not be forgiven with a half assed congratulatory email.

As the day starts to wind down, Aaron’s worry comes to fruition when his work phone rings, and it’s from Amy, the receptionist.

“Mr. Sugden is here to see you?” Amy says, and it throws Aaron.

“What, here?” Aaron asks.

“Yes.” She replies and hangs up.

Robert had just sent an email this morning congratulating the whole team because of the drawings going out to bid. Aaron hasn’t a clue why Robert would be here, all the way from London. Curiosity fills him as he makes his way to the front of the office.

Robert is standing in the front, looking every inch as beautiful as his headshot on the website. He’s tall, but not in a lumbering apologetic way that some tall people possess. Everything about him screams confidence, and the attraction Aaron felt when he first saw Robert curls in his chest as he approaches him. He may be the fittest man Aaron has ever seen.

“Aaron?” Robert asks, when Aaron gets to the front properly.

“Alright, Robert?” Aaron asks back, still confused as to why Robert is even here.

“Yeah, alright. Sorry for just dropping in on ya, but, er...you free tonight?” Robert’s question throws Aaron off even more. “I want to take you out for drinks on a job well done.” Robert continues when Aaron just stares at Robert.

“Uh. Yeah, we can do that. You could’ve just called.” Aaron laughs. Amy is eavesdropping unabashedly.

“Well I was hoping I could convince you to leave...now?” Robert says with a waggle of his eyebrows. Aaron wants to laugh again, he never thought Robert would be so animated. He checks his phone for the time - it’s an hour before he’s supposed to leave work. But he thinks about all the late nights he has spent working on that damned project and decides he’s earned being able to leave early for once. He nods his consent to Robert and runs back to his desk to log off and grab his keys.

\---

They’re drinking and laughing at a random pub Aaron took them to. It was awkward and stilted at first. Sure, they have spent a lot of time talking to each other recently, but it was always about work. Now, they’re trading personal anecdotes and it almost feels like Aaron has known Robert for years. What was different was the blatant flirting they were exchanging as the night continued.

There was always an undertone of flirtiness in the emails they exchanged, and Aaron grew a little more confident after finding out what Robert looked like. At first, Aaron thought maybe he was imagining the flirting from Robert, but at one point in the night, he places his hand on Aaron’s thigh when he throws his head back in laughter.

Eventually, the conversation circles back to work, and when Aaron mentions how Finn should be returning soon, Robert lets out a frustrated groan.

“He’s probably the most useless architect I’ve ever worked with.” Robert laments.

“I’ll drink to that.” Aaron agrees. He’s been so fed up with the lack of response from him and all the new responsibility that was completely above his own paygrade. “Be lucky you only have to deal with him on just this project.”

“You’re right. You definitely have it worse than me. It’s just -” Robert sobers up a little before continuing. “This has been my first project as a partner. Lawrence didn’t even want to make me partner. I invested more into the firm than what it was worth just so I could become partner. And this damn project and Finn’s incompetence is feeding his hatred of me.”

“I’m sorry mate.” Aaron says, and he means it. His prejudices of architects have waned during these weeks, and it had a lot to do with Robert.

“You’re a better architect than Finn is, and you’re not even an architect.” Robert says with a smile, and Aaron can feel his face heat up with the compliment.

“Just a good drafter.” Aaron denies, feeling awkward. “I’m not cut out for designing and shit.”

Robert laughs and takes another drink of his beer. “How’d you end up in an architecture firm?”

“Was in construction before, wasn’t I? Got tired of fucking up my body and traded hard graft for a cushy job.” Aaron shrugs.

“I’ve always loved design. My mum, well she was my stepmum but she was the only mum I knew, she loved design too. It was something we always bonded over.” 

Aaron is touched that Robert keeps telling him all these personal things about him. Aaron hates talking about himself - always keeping his personal life locked up inside of himself. “Why did you come here, Robert?” Aaron asks.

“Because I appreciated all your work. You really stepped up, and you’re not even an architect.” Robert says softly. He does this thing where his voice gets all soft and it might be the most alluring thing Aaron has ever heard.

“Just doing my job.” Aaron shrugs off the compliment, even though it was his prompting that led to it in the first place.

“You’re really good at your job. And I think you shouldn’t settle for what you have right now. Yes, I just made partner at my firm. But Lawrence is my ex father-in-law, so I know my time at the firm is always going to be strained. I want to start my own firm, and I want to see if I can convince you to leave and work for me?” Robert proposes, a hopeful expression on his face.

Aaron is at a loss for words. “Is that the reason you came up here?”

“Partly. I did want to celebrate our hard work this past month. Give it a think, Aaron. I think RVC is a good testament on how we work together.”

Robert apparently could see Aaron's discomfort and swiftly changed the subject back to the innocuous things they had been discussing before. The air was a little tense at first as Aaron digested the offer.

No one has ever offered Aaron anything because of his work. Cain offered a job at his construction company just because they were family. He got his job as a drafter because he applied there. But to be offered something because they - _ Robert _\- believed in Aaron made him feel a little fuzzy inside. 

The bar was getting close to closing when they decide to make their way back to their parked cars. But instead of getting in their respective cars, they continued to talk. Aaron had never felt so at ease talking with someone, but eventually the build up of getting RVC out was starting to catch up to him and he couldn't stifle a yawn. 

"I've kept you up." Robert says without a hint of remorse. 

"How long are you sticking around up here?" 

"I suppose that depends." Robert says moving closer into Aaron's space. 

“On?” Aaron asks coyly, swaying softly. Robert smiles and kisses Aaron, and he kisses him back. It’s a short and sweet kiss and when they pull away, they’re smiling at each other. “Oh, so _ that’s _ why you came all the way up here.” Aaron says with a cheeky smile. Robert runs his thumb across Aaron’s cheek.

“Well I saw what you looked like on your firm’s website, and I knew I had to see you.” Robert admits, and it makes Aaron laugh, feeling so much better about the fact Robert was checking Aaron out before this meeting too.

“Come here, you.” Aaron says, pulling Robert into a kiss that he happily returns.

\---

RVC comes back under budget which is a huge relief for the entire team. Aaron’s boss throws a party for him, and all his coworkers congratulate him. Robert had also sent an email to the entire team congratulating them on getting a contractor and getting it under budget. He also sent a private email to Aaron asking when Aaron would be visiting him in London.

They decided to give their relationship a go despite the distance between them. They occasionally would email each other after the bid went out, and Aaron would usually just say something snarky about Finn now that he was back in the office. At night, they would call each other and fall asleep to the other’s breathing. Aaron hated how quickly he was falling in love with Robert.

The only time Robert tried again to sweet talk Aaron into working for him was when Robert mentioned he should go into construction again, but as a contractor project manager.

“Instead of building the building, you delegate and work on the office side of things.” Robert coaxes. He knows Aaron has a weakness for his soft voice and was using it to his advantage.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Aaron says back, slightly agitated. The offer is intriguing, and Aaron would be a liar if he had he hadn’t thought about being a contractor. But he would be damned if he let Robert talk into something he wasn’t sure yet.

“No pressure. Just think about it, okay? Maybe before RVC is open for occupancy.” RVC was really what was holding Aaron back. Sure, Finn hadn’t had any other random sabbaticals, but Aaron was still doing the construction administration because of Finn’s helplessness and inability to even know what request for information was.

Doing CA work made Aaron miss the construction side of things. Throughout the fifteen months it’s taken RVC to be built, Aaron has been spending more and more time in London with both inspection walk-throughs and spending time with Robert. More and more of his stuff has started migrating to Robert’s flat, that when RVC opened for occupancy, it was a no brainer to Aaron.

“Yes.” Aaron says when he pulls Robert aside from the celebrations.

“Hm?” Robert is distracted, thinking Aaron had pulled them away to kiss. He buries his nose in Aaron’s neck and just hugs him, swaying softly.

“I mean yes, I’ll come work with you. But it’s going to be an equal partnership. I’m not going to work for you. I’ll do the construction side or whatever.” Aaron says, softly pushing Robert away to look at him properly. Robert’s face splits into a wide grin, and no amount of pushing can get him away as he hugs Aaron.

“We’re going to make the greatest team ever, just you wait.” Robert says softly, and Aaron might just have to agree.

\---

Sugden Dingle Design Build opens to humble success shortly after RVC opens. Because Robert was lead architect on that project, the firm opens with an impressive portfolio. They decided early on, when coming up with plans for their firm, that SDDB wouldn’t be a specialized firm. Robert wanted to design anything and everything and Aaron was more than happy to indulge Robert in their new shared dream. Aaron, for his part, was meticulous in finding superintendents to join the construction side. It didn't hurt that Cain kicked over a few contacts for them.

Aaron thought the first months after opening the firm would be a test on both their working relationship and personal one. But somewhere between going after projects that larger firms were going after - and winning them - and getting engaged, Aaron could not have been more wrong. Robert’s designs were so simple yet intricate in the finer details that their proposals were often picked over larger firms that were more outlandish in their designs.

They didn’t have Finn to make fun of anymore, so they would sometimes laugh about some of the more difficult clients. It always delighted Aaron to think about how the origin of their relationship has been a continuous thread in their life.

Four years after starting their company, SDDB becomes one of the largest firms in the London area, and they get married. When new clients ask how they’re able to spend so much time being married and working together, Robert always shoots Aaron a secret smile before throwing an arm around Aaron’s shoulder, “We hate the same people.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! If you're reading my series and don't follow me on tumblr, I had [posted](https://amadya.tumblr.com/post/187236197180/no-build-you-up-this-week) that Build me up is being postponed until next week.


End file.
